Alarming White Gunk Overnight

Hi,

I did a 50% water change last night to lower the nitrates to an acceptable level, making sure to condition the water and get it close to the same temperature. I then tried feeding him, but he wouldn't accept food, spitting it back out. I left one salmon pellet in the tank which is still there (he will usually eat any leftovers over night).

I looked at him for the first time early this afternoon and he has deficated. However, there is this white gunk everywhere (see photos) that I have never seen before. Up until I changed the water, he had been eating fine and the other chemical levels were good.

However, when he wouldn't eat last night, it looked like he was twisting and turning, trying to get something out. I have no idea what it could be as the containers I used to put water in his tank were clean. I wonder if something fell in the tank and I didn't notice.

Looks like it may be fungus. Do some salt baths and you should see improvement. What temp is your tank?

Update - after vacuuming up the white gunk and excrement, he pooped two more large piles. Maybe he is backed up?

Hayleyy, thanks for your thoughts. To answer your question, the tank has been staying right at 60 Fahrenheit/ 15.5 Celcius. I would be really surprised if it was fungus because of the large volume of it and the fact that the tank was clean the night before. For that reason, I'm hesitant to disturb him with a salt bath at the moment. I want to make sure his appetite comes back.

Another update - There may have been a small residue of water containing a bit of "Melafix" in the container I used to put water into the tank the night before this whole episode began. My daughter had used the container to put water in her Betta fish tank. The Melafix contains Melaleuca which is a kind of tea tree.

While listed as safe at http://www.axolotl.org/health.htm , other pages say that is can cause liver damage after being absorbed through the skin. I am hoping that the trace amounts in the container (that I should have rinsed first) are not the cause of the issue.

No more large amount of white gunk after vacuuming out the tank again, although there may or may not have been some new white flakes of waste. I'm almost beginning to wonder if it is spermatozoa as pictured here - http://www.axolotl.org/breeding.htm

However he is a juvenile and there was an awful lot of it and he's still not eating. Have to get him straight or my daughter is going to be heartbroken!

I've not had a male spawn so don't really know if that's the case, but that's a possibility!
What have you tried feeding him?

Okay, So for starters, dont leave food in the tank for longer than 30 minutes, for ammonia reasons. And second, it looks like his slime coat is shedding, which is not good. My suggestion is to get him out of the tank and into some nice cool and clean water in a plastic tub or something, and get your water tested. What are your ammonia levels and Ph?

Im not sure about the eating issue, it could be due to stress, but I am sure once everything is situated he should be back up and eating. Im sorry for late response, its been a crazy month.

The slime coat is a good suggestion, look really close and you may be able to see if it is coming off his skin

Hey, guys,

Posting this for posterity and for anyone who is interested. I'm pretty sure that all the white stuff was vomit. A few days later, I found a tiny brown rock that I think he vomited out. I have no idea how it got in the tank since I've never had rocks in it. I'll try to post a photo here.

A few weeks later, he vomited again and now his fills have shrunk significantly. I'm thinking about posting that as a separate thread.

The prior owner who raised it from birth to 3-4 inch juvenile never had rocks. I'm beginning to wonder if one crept in from my using the same vacuum that I use for our tropical aquarium, although it's rocks look different. I'm also worried that in doing so I have given him some kind of parasite.

Also trying to attach a photo of his fills now v/s when he had the vomiting issue.

Thanks

Oh - one more interesting item on the vomiting/ Rock episode: A few days before it happened, I fed it the first earthworm of its life. We happened to have worms crawl up on the concrete when it rained. I washed it off first. It made me wonder - could the rock have been inside the long worm I cut up for it? I searched and according to at least one worm farm website, the type of red earthworm found here in Virginia uses rocks in it's gut in the way a chicken does in it's gizzard.

Could this be an argument against feeding earthworms to Axolotls? I don't think I'll be trying it again anytime soon.

I doubt there was a rock in the worm, if there was you would have felt it when you washed it. Have you introduced any live plants? When I buy them in pots they always have some gravel stuck in there. Or it could have been from the vacuum like you said.
Unless the tropical tank has parasites don't worry too much.
I'm not sure if axolotl's really vomit, they do bring food back up but I've only ever seen it as the whole food, not stomach contents. If they did vomit it wouldn't be white would it?
As for the gills, what are your tank parameters? A decline in water quality is usually the cause for gill loss.

Thanks for the thoughts Hayleyy. I just kind of rinsed the worm off as it floated in my hands without handling it too much, so I don't think I would have felt it inside the worm's body. I do have a live plant that has been in there from the beginning last December. It is rubber-banded to a large rock. I inspected it several times for any crevices or places that pebbles could have come from, but it is solid. By the way, this link has some information on how worms use rocks in their bellies.

As far as parasites, I'm not sure if I would know whether there were any in the fish tank. I've always heard that they could give diseases to axolotls. The impression I've received is that what could be acceptable water for tropical fish could cause problems. I've ordered a separate vacuum for the axie now.

I think his gills are looking a little better. Strange thing - I began to find a few small fibers in the tank. It has a removable grated metal top. Hanging above it was a decoration made with a lot of yarn. In turn, the yarn item was being blown by a fan. Therefore I have a suspicion that all this time some fibers (maybe man-made) have been falling into the tank from time to time. They could have been swallowed and maybe even wrapped around his gills. Needless to say we've since relocated the hanging decoration.

I'm pretty positive that the white material is regurgitated food. Some newer bits come out with it. You can even see bloodworm material if he has been fed any in the last week or so. The tank water quality has stayed quite good. Recently, the nitrates did get a bit high - maybe 20-30 ppm. The pH has come down over the past months to around 6.8, likely due to Indian Almond leaves.

Thanks

Hayleyy said:

I doubt there was a rock in the worm, if there was you would have felt it when you washed it. Have you introduced any live plants? When I buy them in pots they always have some gravel stuck in there. Or it could have been from the vacuum like you said.
Unless the tropical tank has parasites don't worry too much.
I'm not sure if axolotl's really vomit, they do bring food back up but I've only ever seen it as the whole food, not stomach contents. If they did vomit it wouldn't be white would it?
As for the gills, what are your tank parameters? A decline in water quality is usually the cause for gill loss.

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